Book Excerpt Chapter Seven:

Freedom Through Forgiveness

Invitation #5 - How to Forgive a Brother or Sister

p. 158 - You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.

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Many people ask the question, "How can you begin to heal a relationship with someone who you believe has caused you pain?"  How about trying a case of amnesia. Remember that what you choose not to forgive will weigh you down as long as you choose to carry that thought with you. Regardless of how right you thought you were in defending your position, regardless of whose fault you perceived the situation to be, you will carry the pain until you are able to forgive your brother or sister. As the great "philosopher" Buddy Hackett once said, "Don't carry a grudge. While you're carrying the grudge, the other guy's out dancing." Forgive your brother, release him and you shall set yourself free.

When God looks at you, He sees His perfect expression manifested in you. He has no need to see your past, or imagine your future, for that which is perfect, simply is, and will always be. You need do nothing but feel His presence to remember that this is truth. If you allow yourself to look into His eyes, you will remember all that you have always been and will always be. He has offered you a present, and that present is your brother. If, in the moment, you allow yourself to see your brother as God sees you, all illusions of the past or future will simply disappear. They will affect you no longer, and they will be gone.

For a moment, let go of all things that you believe your brother or sister has done to you. Let go of all thoughts that have brought you pain, all thoughts that have weighed you down. For a moment, let go of the past and look at your present. Ask God to lend you His heart, and open your mind and spirit to seeing the perfection in your brother or sister. In this moment, you will remember your perfection. Ask God to be with you in this moment and you will feel His presence. For a moment, ask God to reveal all the love He has for you and your brother or sister. Pour out this love on your brother or sister.

What do you have to lose? Offer God a moment of your time, and look upon the brother you once judged, with absolute love. Forgive all your brother's past illusions of himself, and see him as God does. Offer this one moment to yourself, and you will be set free forever. Ask God to assist you in looking through your brother's actions and into his soul. Truly offer yourself this moment, and it will change your life.

It will change your life, because it will allow you to see and acknowledge that regardless of what you think a brother has done to you, there is another way of looking at him. It will change your life because you will encounter a moment that extends forever. In this moment, you have the ultimate power to see life and your brother as you wish. Your brother is God's perfect expression and not what you perceive he did to you. The ego has taught you to take an action that you thought a brother did to you and to judge him for it. The ego has you replace your brother’s truth with an action and judgment. Your brother no longer truly exists, but your judgment of his action now lives in his place.

Again, your brother is not what he did to you. Look for a moment through the Godself and see the truth shining through. In the moment when the ego-self advises judgment, the Godself offers forgiveness. In the moment, you have this one choice. It is a choice between peace and pain, forgiveness and judgment, and simply put, between heaven and hell.

This simple invitation will give you back the power and understanding that it is up to you to choose how you see your brother in any moment of your life. You will remember that if you truly desire, you can choose forgiveness, peace of mind and joy in any instant, in any situation, and with any brother or sister. You will remember that God is always with you, and that you need only to call upon Him. Call upon that part of Him that is in you to set you free. God's present to you is your brother, and your brother's present to you is the opportunity to choose peace in any moment. Your present to God is seeing and remembering that perfection in His creation.

Throughout your life, you have most likely tried it the ego’s way. Allow yourself, if only for an instant in time, the opportunity to try it His way. The ego’s way has offered you suffering, judgment, sleepless nights, stress, resentment and pain. His way promises you peace of mind and joy. The ego’s way is based on illusions of who you think you should be and how you think you should act and react. It is a false way, a dead end road made up of lies you have been taught to believe are true.

His way is your true way. His will is your true will. The moment is God’s present to you. It is the eternal gift. It is always available, offering peace of mind and joy. It has never left you and never will. You will always be offered the opportunity to choose the moment, to choose peace instead of pain. The moment is at your disposal to do with it as you will. Your true will brings forth peace of mind and joy. Your false will brings forth judgment and pain. Yet, free will is your right, and it is you, in every moment, who will choose what you will bring forth and experience.
 

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of the great spiritual / self development book You Have Chosen to Remember: A Journey from Perception to Knowledge, Peace of Mind and Joy by James Blanchard Cisneros.